Israel's brown desert

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Brown goats, brownish sheep, a brown shepherdess, and the brown Negev desert. 

Yep, BROWN is today's November 1 theme for City Daily Photo group. 
See what fellow bloggers found for the subject here. 
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A pink house

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A pink house in Calabria, south Italy.
Taken quickly from our moving bus.
Yes, bella Italia!   I am in a writing seminar on Memory and Heritage given by the University of Calabria's Italian Diaspora Studies.
My first time in this country and loving it!

PINK is the theme for June 1 for City Daily Photo group.  See what other bloggers have come up with at the website.
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Stopping to smell the flowers

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On our monthly outing last week part of the group got out of the bus and walked into a meadow to marvel at the glorious blooming wildflowers and to hear guide Dudu explain. 
Everything was so green and wet from the blessedly rainy winter Israel is finally having!
This was at Ramot Menashe, the plateau between the Carmel mountain range and the Jezreel Valley, toward the country's north.

GREEN is the topic for City Daily Photo bloggers theme day. Take a look.
Bloggers in other countries may take green fields for granted, but Israelis get really excited to see this temporary color in winter, before the long hot dry season turns things brown.
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Change for the pushke

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Almost full!
Quite some time ago our town's Chabad rabbi gave me this pushke. 
It was empty then.
Rabbi Shneor's hope was that I would put in some loose change every day--not because he needed the money for Chabad House, but because he wanted me to learn the habit of giving tsdakah every day. 

Tsdakah in Hebrew means justice or righteousness but is often translated (for want of a better English equivalent) as "charity."

Today's Theme Day subject at City Daily Blog is CHANGE and I decided to go with coins as change.  But to see how other bloggers did it, see 
http://cdpbthemeday.blogspot.com/ .

To read about the uniquely Jewish perspective on charity, please see
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/814118/jewish/Tzedakah-Charity.htm

and
https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/pushke
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Teach

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Torah was given to teach us. 

And today's City Daily Photo Theme Day's focus is TEACH.

Pirkei Avot 4:15 in the Talmud says

Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua taught: "The dignity of your students should be as precious to you as your own. The dignity of your colleagues should be as precious to you as your reverence for your teacher. The reverence for your teacher should be as great as your reverence for God."

And the daily prayer Kaddish dRabbanan blesses our teachers:

 "May you be blessed and strengthened 
as you have blessed and strengthened your student.

May you have peace, grace, kindness, mercy, long life and

everything you need."

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Good luck to the 2,310,000 pupils in Israel who start the new school year tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 2.  
And blessings to their teachers!

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The Great Spirit's gift to us

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SPIRIT is the City Daily Photo group's theme day topic.

This disintegrating trunk of a burnt tree on a white boulder reminds me, in a reverse sort of  way, what I read years ago concerning the Great Spirit.

Tatanga Mani, a Stoney Indian, said on page 106 of Touch the Earth: A Self Portrait of Indian Existence by T.C. McLuhan this wisdom:

 You know, if you take all your books, lay them out under the sun, and let the snow and rain and insects work on them for a while, there will be nothing left.  But the Great Spirit has provided you and me with an opportunity for study in nature's university, the forests, the rivers, the mountains, and the animals which include us.

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Me having fun

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Woohoo, I got to climb up a huge ladder and play in a HUGE truck! 
What a fun day that was in Ramla! 

Look at the size of that thing!
Standing under it is Dani, the man responsible for Kibbutz Gezer Olives. 
On our day off, Dani took us volunteers and WWOOFers on a tour of the city of Ramla, including this new museum for old vehicles. 

Ashlea, Dani, Dina, Luke -- what a team! 

There are lots more posts about our olive harvesting adventures last autumn. 

For June 1 theme day, City Daily Photos bloggers are posting on the subject ME.
It's a rare chance to see photos of the photographers themselves.  Take a look!
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Our matriarch Sarah's laughter, then and now

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And Sarah said: 'God hath made laughter for me; every one that heareth will laugh on account of me.'

 וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרָה--צְחֹק, עָשָׂה לִי אֱלֹהִים:  כָּל-הַשֹּׁמֵעַ, יִצְחַק-לִי

-- Genesis 21:6 --

This was said after God had promised the barren Sarah that she and husband Abraham would bear a son in their advanced old age. 
I am thinking of this statue, called "Sarah," by Rita Paran, based on that Bible verse, because today our City Daily Photo bloggers group is sharing a Theme Day about LAUGHTER. 

Back in 2011 I was walking very early through the still-closed Mamilla Mall in Jerusalem. 
I was shocked to see the cleaning man throw a bucket of water on one of the Bible Stories statues! 
But our matriarch Sarah just laughed.
She seemed quite tickled when the cleaner scrubbed her with his broom. 
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(Linking to City Daily Photo,  Our World Tuesday, and Weekend Reflections.)
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Isaiah's prophecy in a blue mail box

ONE COLOR is our challenge for today's City Daily Photo bloggers' Theme Day. 
This blue "artwork" is signed in the lower corner by Israeli artist Dan Chamizer. 
He lives in Ein Hod, an artists' colony at the foot of Mount Carmel. 

The funny part is that right next to it are the actual post boxes for the residents of the village. 

The title on top explains why certain animals inhabit the boxes.
"Doar Acharit HaYamim" means Post at the End of Days, meaning, how it is supposed to be --allegorically -- in the future Messianic Era. 

The prophet Isaiah says in chapter 11, verse 6 that

The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion will graze together, and a little child will herd them. 

You can see this verse in the famous Isaiah scroll of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls here:
http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/isaiah?id=11:6

Happy Easter and happy Pesach to you all! 
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A 21st C Purim Spiel?!

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Today is the happy holiday Purim!
It's also our monthly CDP Theme Day and City Daily Photo bloggers are busy interpreting the idea "play."
I'm going to try to link the two by using PLAY as a noun.

Purim Spiel is the Yiddish term for the boisterous plays, sometimes even mini-musicals, that are thought up and put on every Purim.
So Spiel, pronounced shpeel, means a play and in Europe Jews have been keeping this Purim custom for centuries.

In Meitar this afternoon the Scouts put on a whole carnival. (More about that later.)
On stage was Tooti the Superhero.
Instead of  Esther saving her people from wicked Haman, we had Tooti, a woman with super powers, saving humanity from some kind of alien invasion (or something ...).

Here's a tiny video so you can hear as well as see our modern little Purim Spiel:

Happy Purim!
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UPDATE: Here are nine life lessons we can learn from the Purim story of the Bible.
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"God gave burdens, also shoulders."

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We interrupt my report about Israel Space Week to post something for City Daily Photo blogger's Theme Day.
The Feb. 1 subject is TIRED. 

When I moved from the Jerusalem Hills down to the Negev a few years ago, I was shocked by the old-style technique used by one of the three movers. 

Mohammad was not an especially big man, but he knew how to use the tumpline method to full advantage.  
Still, at the end of that hot August day, I reckon he was a bit TIRED. 

The whole work of moving house reminded me of the old Yiddish proverb:

GOD GAVE BURDENS,  ALSO SHOULDERS. 

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I myself used to carry things on my back using such a tumpline while working livestock as a residential volunteer at Heifer Ranch and I found it quite nice.
Read more here:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/08/tumplines/537306/
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Homemade gifts--but with a difference!

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City Daily Photo bloggers have as our December 1st theme the idea of gifts.

Lucky me--my sweet daughter recently came up to Israel from down in Australia for a short visit.
And she came bearing gifts. 
I was excited to see for the first time the fruits of her labor, her artistic ideas made into physical objects on her new laser engraving and cutting machine!
Like the replica of the Golden Record that was sent into space 40 years ago. (If you're too young to remember the launch of NASA's Voyager I and II, Naomi wrote about the record on her website.)

Another gift I love is Naomi's pleasant-to-the-touch cork coasters.
As she explains,  "These cork coasters are laser engraved with an image of a labyrinth inspired by the famous Notre-Dame de Chartres Cathedral labyrinth in France. The labyrinth has for centuries attracted people to walk its lines in meditation. Even on this smaller version, running your finger along the lines can bring about calmness and serenity."

These little hearts are really offcuts from the wood and acrylic that Naomi works with.
I gave a few as symbolic gifts to new friends and it really won their heart.

Just for fun take a look at some of Naomi's 90 unusual creations at her online Etsy crafts store called Eclipse9Laser.
You'll even find Tolkien- and space-themed Christmas tree ornaments now!
And more new and unexpected things every week.

As Naomi explains,
"In my previous life I was a university lecturer and researcher in aerospace engineering. I also worked as an engineer for Lockheed and NASA, designing satellite systems. I love all things aerospace, engineering and science.
Now I'm making cool (ok, geeky) laser engraved gifts and items - things that I love and find exciting. I hope you love them too!"

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Sensual centaur

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When was the last time you saw a CENTAUR?!? 
I saw this one at Beer Sheva's Old City street fair during Sukkot three years ago. 
I remember well his strong silent presence, the menacing look he gave to each passerby, his face, his muscles . . . .
Enlarge the photo, see what I mean. 

For Oct. 1st Theme Day our City Daily Photo blogger group came up with the theme "sensual." 
Of the more than 26 entries so far, I note that the majority focus on females, so I am adding a MAN.
Well, at least a half-man.
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In the pre-drone era

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Things were more primitive way back in 2010 when I took these pictures.
Before drones came into popular use, people used small helium balloons! 

Enlarge the photo with a few clicks and you will see the cables attached to the suspended camera.

Apparently the archaeologists and/or the architects and engineers needed aerial photography of this exciting and welcome new National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel.  
Back then the construction was just beginning; now it is almost completed. 

Our City Daily Photo bloggers group has our monthly Theme Day today.
The subject is Photographing the Photographer.
In my post you'll just have to imagine the photographer, down on earth holding the tether. 
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(Linking also to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Dean and Dina down by the sea

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Number One grandson Dean and I were talking about sloths and how they hang upside down. 

I decided to throw decorum to the winds and demonstrate, despite my grandmotherly age. 

This was about ten years ago, in Australia, but I still remember the fun of acting young at heart in a public park! 

Visit the gallery to see what other City Daily Photo bloggers dared to post for our August theme, "young at heart."

(Linking also to ABC Wednesday's D day.)

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Grandkids in motion

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Grandson Dean jumped nearly into the winter rain clouds back in 2013 when my Australia family was here in Israel.
His younger brother and sister were also in harnesses and bouncing off the big trampoline in a Beer Sheva shopping center.
You can see all of them jumping in this post.

We City Daily Photo bloggers have our July 1 Theme Day on the subject of MOTION.
See what other photographers are adding to today's CDP gallery.
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Our most beautiful desert oasis

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A real oasis in the desert, near the Dead Sea.
Ein Gedi, my most beloved nature spot in all of Israel!



This Apple of Sodom grows from the rock and clings to the canyon wall in Nahal David, on the way to the waterfall.
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June 1 is Theme Day and City Daily Photo members are starting to blog about Nature today.
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On Jewish feasting

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Patriotic blue and white marshmallows!
A limited edition especially for Israel's Independence Day (starting tonight) and also for the upcoming Lag BaOmer holiday when kids gather around bonfires.  

City Daily Photo bloggers are posting their favorite "Let's eat!" photo today for Theme Day. 

If you say "let's eat" to an American Jew, what comes to mind is the old joke: 
How can you explain most Jewish holidays?  Simple:  They tried to kill us; we won; let's eat. 

Think of the history and the feasting that go with Chanuka, Purim, Pesach, and Independence Day, for example.   True, eh? 
Today we are in the very somber and painful Remembrance Day when we think about the many thousands we have lost to wars and terrorism, and tonight we must transition into the fireworks, happiness, and barbecues of our 69th Independence Day.
The bitter and the sweet. 
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Spontaneous combustion? -- A palm in flames

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WET is the City Daily Photo topic for today's Theme Day.
We have not much rain and no bodies of water here in my corner of Israel's Negev desert.
But the other day, a hot dry chamsin day, our town suddenly saw a lot of water--not from the sky but from fire hoses!
The crown of a palm tree suddenly burst into flames.
SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION?!  It is a known phenomenon especially in palms.

Soon the whole trunk and the hedge were burning.
Our Meitar Bitachon/Security team (bless them!) were on the scene quickly and rolled out their hoses.

The police and Fire Department arrived too.

Two firemen suited up and went to work.

At the end, our local hoses had themselves to be hosed down to clean the black soot off them.

The now leafless and blackened dead palm will hopefully be cut down soon.
That's a scary thing, trees suddenly bursting into flame for no good reason.
I hope never to see such a thing again.
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See Palm Trees as Fire Hazards, a useful page of advice, photos, and a video link by a California fire department.
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Black horse, white horse

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A Lipizzaner stallion stuck his beautiful head out of his box stall at the Spanish Riding School.
It was a rainy Sunday in Vienna.

And in a dim attic in a century-old Vienna apartment building I found this old flat metal votive horse.
It had come to Austria from a church in Greece.

These photos are what I could come up with for our CDP Theme Day on "black and white in color."
See what other bloggers are posting for the next two days at City Daily Photo website.

In 2015 UNESCO inscribed the Spanish Riding School in The Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity! 
You can see more about the Lipizzaners and their palace in my earlier posts.
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